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At 04:55 PM 05/07/2008, Tim wrote: >. . . >Whether scannless GBS is bad enough, I leave to you. I think it is, >but there's an argument, certainly. I don't think we can argue that >there is *some* lower threshold of quality beneath which data should >be left off the OPAC. I note, for example, that most "empty" books in >GBS do not show up high on Google's searches for that book name. They >don't show up because, absent a scan, GBS books are pretty weak tea. > >As for the idea that getting a book off the shelf is a non-trivial >hassle, while I admit that it can get hard if your library is split >between locations, at most colleges, getting a book from a library is >a trivial effort. And anyway, you're a student for pete's sake! >Learning is your full-time job. If gets books off shelves bums you >out, what are you doing in college? A few comments: (1) I've only been working in an academic library for 12 years, but getting a book from the library shelf passed from the skills we teach a while back. These days the learning objectives in most academic libraries with which I'm acquainted involve things like learning how to evaluate information for its usefulness and appropriateness at several points in the research process. An undergraduate student writing a 10 page paper faced with 50 results from a library catalog search needs to make some quick judgements about what might be useful and what might not be useful before heading off to the stacks. If a "scanless" GBS record with summary and/or ToC and/or reviews can help winnow the list down to a manageable number so the student can spend his/her time evaluating and processing the actual information so they can write an informed paper, then why not offer it? (2) Part of why we have books in the library is so users can check them out. The existence of a record for a book in a library catalog doesn't mean the book is on the shelf. If a scanless GBS record with summary and/or ToC and/or reviews can help a student make an initial determination about the appropriateness of a book that can't be consulted because the book's not on the shelf, it suddenly becomes pretty useful. Most academic libraries now belong to consortia that allow requesting of items from other libraries when the local copy is checked out. Scanless GBS info might aid in determining whether or not the book should be requested. (3) Scanless GBS records can augment the catalog record and/or the book itself. I was just looking at the scanless GBS record for a colleague's recent work, and while it lacked a ToC or summary in the GBS record, the "References from web pages" offered links to: - an NPR interview with the author (from a popular perspective); - a Chronicle piece on the book; - the University Press page for the book, that did have a summary; - a page for the book at Blackwell, that did have the ToC; - a podcast of a half hour interview with the author (from a scholarly perspective). The weak tea scanless record for this book has the potential to (a) help users make an initial evaluation of the appropriateness and usefulness of the book; (b) conserve library resources by informing the decision to request from another library; (c) offer supporting information not available in the book, regardless of format. Bob Duncan ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~ Robert E. Duncan Systems Librarian Editor of IT Communications Lafayette College Easton, PA 18042 [log in to unmask] http://www.library.lafayette.edu/